Amada's Tail
by WriteLHD
Summary: Set in C2 albia, the story of a mernorn who was different from the other mernons, rater pg just cause it might have kisspopping and stuff in it


Amada's Tail 

Amada's Tail By Leigha Dickens

Chapter one

"Swim faster!" aphrodite, the young mernorn guardian said. Amada kicked out harder and worked her arms faster as she struggled to swim free style as fast as Aphrodite's request. Amada was a child mernorn, and at that age all of the older children spent a part of each day swimming their strokes under the instruction of aphrodite, to prepare for when they grew up and were granted free leave of the oceans.

All mernorns were born as regular norns, gradually becoming amphibious and then aquatic, as they grew older.At first the hand had raised baby mernorns on land among land norns, and as the norns changed they were put in water. But this did not work, because land norns and mernorns would often become good friends or fall in love, and often mernorns didn't want to leave their land lives and died there. So now non-adult mernorns lived in the light blue ocean until they grew their tails. The baby's that could breathe only air lived in the airlock until they became children. They were looked after by adolescent norns, who were amphibious. The children were aloud to leave the airlock and the older ones were given swimming lessons as amada was doing now, but cannot breathe water yet. Still, they could hold their breath for a long time and gradually got used to their developing gills. 

Amada and her peers all enjoyed swim lessons, no matter how hard Aphrodite made them work. (She was an ancient norn and the only one with a fish tail in the light blue ocean.) Swimming through the water was fun, and amada loved the surface. They could only surface at night when the land norns were not out (the mernorns did not want the land norns to know they existed for the same reason merpeople wouldn't want us to know they existed) but amada loved every minute of it. She loved backstroke especially, because then she could look at the stars as she swam and watch the water droplets she made when she splashed reflect the moonlight. She liked to look around at the land around her, to see the volcano poke up in the horizon and the dessert land on the other shore. It made amada feel good as she exercised her muscles and grew stronger. 

The only part about the swimming lessons she did not like was the trip from the airlock to the surface. It was a long way up and a long way to hold her breath. All of the other child norns didn't seem to mind the trip, holding their breath didn't bother them, and many of them could halfway breathe in the water. 

"All right norns, that was good. Now time for underwater swimming." Aphrodite said. Amada's least favorite thing. All of the norns would dive under and swim for as far as they could. Amada hated this because she would always be the first to come up for air. She was horrible at this. This worried her, because she was a mernorn, she was supposed to breathe underwater, and yet she could not. 

"Ready, go!" Amada took a deep breath and dove with the others. She frog-kicked her strong legs and swam through the water, determined not to be the first this time. "Just think of it like the trip from the airlock." She told herself. "Only, you're going twice as far and the air is that far away." Air! She needed air! Her cheeks puffed up as she gagged and chocked, but the others showed no signs of relenting…Air! But no, she had to stay longer. She sealed her mouth closed and swam at a faster rate, but the water seemed to close in around her and she had to breath or her lungs would burst! 

Amada gave in and swam toward the surface, but in her struggle she had gone further under than she realized. The surface was so close and yet so far away. She swam faster; her lungs were burning, exploding!

Amada opened her mouth and gulped in a breath, unable to stop herself, but she was not breathing air, only water!

Amada awoke and found herself lying on the ground. On land! She was on land. In the shallows nearby five curious and concerned faces watched her. The other four older children from her swimming class and Aphrodite were watching her. 

"Are you all right Amada?" Aphrodite asked.

"I don't know, what happened?"

"I guess you just stayed underwater too long and nearly drowned. You were floating near a puffer fish, and you know they can tell when a norn is suffocating and that one brought you here."

"Unnn." Amada moaned. She felt sick. She lay her head down on the sand and gazed at the stars above her. Far off in the east rays of sun were beginning to show themselves over the horizon. Day would come soon and the land norns would be out. Yet here she was, on land.

Aphrodite saw the sunrays too. She sent the others away to the airlock and stayed with Amada as Amada clambered back into the water.

"Will you be able to swim down?" Aphrodite asked. 

"Yes, I think so." Amada said, but she doubted she could. She still felt sick, but more than that she was embarrassed. Who ever heard of a mernorn drowning? Even if she was only a child and hadn't grown enough to be amphibious, it was still bad. And puffer fish are only supposed sense norns that weren't mernorns. Even if she weren't grown into a mernorn yet, the puffer fish would still be able to tell, at least that's what she had thought. 

The last thing Amada wanted to do was hold her breath again, but she forced herself to swim to the airlock.She opened the door and entered. The other norns were eating their meals before they went to bed. Conrad, the adolescent male norn who was the head of the airlock, told her to sit in the corner with the others and eat. Amada did, but didn't really taste the food. All she wanted to do was crawl in her clamshell and go to sleep. She gulped the cheese and algae down and clambered away. She passed the incubator and all of the toys to get to the clamshells where the norns slept and lay down in hers. It was nice and warm since it was near the steamer.She left her shell open for a bit and looked up through the transparent glass out into the ocean above. Puffer fish and the tasty zandler fish swam about, and the occasional crab scuttled into view. Above the surface the light of the sun was making it's appearance and day was beginning. Lulled by this beautiful sight, Amada closed her clamshell and fell asleep.

Chapter Two

It was parent visit day. Amada hated this day, because she had no living parents that cared to see her. Her mother Irene had been a beautiful mernorn with a lovely blue tail but she had died just after she had laid Amada's egg of an illness. It wasn't really known who her father was, but the other mernorns were pretty sure that it was Coren, the mernorn who lived alone in the water by the waterfall. Irene had always been interested in him.But her mother was dead and Coren either didn't know or didn't care of her existence, so when all of her siblings got too see their parents (mostly through the glass, since they were too young to breathe water and their parents couldn't go inside) Amada would feel miserable. Today she simply did not come out of her clamshell. She lay inside, warm and toasty. To amuse herself she counted the bumps and ridges on the inside, but that got old. After a while Amada lifted the top of her clamshell just a bit and peered out. All of the children were up against the glass talking to adult mernorns. These mernorns had fins and tails and looked so natural in the water. Amada couldn't wait until she looked like that.

Amada's eye fell on a broken piece of shiny glass on the floor. It wasn't from the airlock was it? No, the glass of the airlock was too strong to break. It was probably from that dish one of the babies had broken the night before.She darted out and picked it up, then went back inside her clamshell. She examined it and saw that she could see herself in it. She looked at her reflection carefully. She was blue all over, just as her mother had been, so said Aphrodite. Her eyes were a pale green and she had short white hair growing on her head. Her friend Chastity also had white hair like that. But wait a minute, hers was different. Chastity's grew in the same place as Amada's, but Amada's was much longer. It fell down to below her ears. Amada hadn't seen her reflection in a long time (the glass of the airlock wasn't very good for that) and hadn't realized how much she had changed. Her hair was different, but she liked it long. It was pretty that way. No other mernorn she knew had hair like hers. 

Amada spent the rest of the time using the jagged edge of the glass to draw designs in the top of her clamshell. She wrote her name very prettily, and drew a flowering eninomy next to it. 

"Hungry?" Chastity lifted the top of the clamshell up. "Come on, you didn't need to spend all night in there. Come out and eat." She handed Amada a piece of cheese. Amada ate it gratefully. 

"I like your hair." Chastity said suddenly.

"What? What about it?"

"It's long. Well, longer than anyone else's anyway."

"Hasn't it always been like that?" Amada asked, confused. Her hair hadn't grown overnight had it?

"No. It wasn't like that earlier. It must have just grown."

"Wow." Amada said. That was strange. "Why would it just grow?" 

"I don't know, but it's pretty. I wish my hair would do that!"

Later that night the older children were allowed to play. They went up to the surface and played a game with a ball.One team threw it and the other team had to catch it before the ones in the third team caught it. It was mainly about throwing hard and swimming fast and was a lot like "monkey in the middle." Amada was good at throwing and was the fastest swimmer, but she could not get the ball once it began to sink. The others were so much better underwater than she. She loved her new hair; it trailed behind her and floated as she swam. 

The ball came flying at her, she threw up her hands to catch it, but it went by too fast and she missed. Leroy dove after it as it sank underwater. She took a deep breath and went after him. She saw it, sinking fast through a school of Zandler fish with Leroy close behind it. He lost sight of it and stopped. Shouldn't he come up for air? Even his lungs would be bursting by now, yet he did not surface. Amada did, gasped air into her lungs and dove again. He had caught the ball and was swimming toward the surface slowly. Amada was forced to get air again before he popped up.

"I could breathe!" He exclaimed. "I could! My lungs didn't get tired at all, so I must have breathed the water!" 

"What's this?" Aphrodite heard his exclamation. 

"I did it! I breathed in the water!"

"Already?" Aphrodite wondered. "Yes, it makes sense. Now would be about the time for you all to turn to adolescents. Look at the way Amada's hair grew last night. You should all be able to breathe water soon! Try it."

Amada was excited. She'd be and adolescent! She would finally be able to breathe water, no longer would she be the first to surface. She would no longer need to surface.

At the back of her mind she felt a hint of caution. The last time she had hit a new life stage, from baby to child she had been just as excited. She would be able to leave the airlock! She would be able to see the surface and the ocean around.But when she had taken a deep breath and swam through the door the ocean around had not been a good place. She had nearly drowned before she made it halfway to the surface. The other four children had made it all the way, but she had to turn back. She had felt horribly embarrassed. That had been the worst day of her life. After that one horrible day she had hated the trips from the airlock to the surface and back, and she hated doing things underwater. 

What if today turned out like that? That would be horrible. Amada was scared to go underwater. "You're being silly." She told herself. "Just because your first new life stage was bad doesn't mean this one will be." Amada took a deep breath and dove. 

She didn't feel any different. Her mernorn eyes that could see through the water as if it were air saw all of the others swimming around. She didn't feel any different…

A minute later her head broke the surface and her burning lungs filled with air. _She couldn't breathe underwater! _All of her peers were swimming around without a care, they could all breathe. Yet her lungs still demanded air. What about gills? She was supposed to have gills now! She was supposed to be amphibious! Why wasn't she? Amada began to panic, tears streaming openly down her face. She looked out across the ocean, now devoid of norns that needed to breathe the air. 

It was a beautiful night; the rippling water reflected the starlight, a night Amada would normally enjoy, but now she did not enjoy it. 

"Amada, what's wrong?" Aphrodite asked. "Can you not breathe?" Amada turned away so that Aphrodite couldn't see her tears from under the water.She could not bear to be that last one again. She could not bear the pain of being different.

"Yes, yes I can, surfacing is just an old habit I guess. I was just looking at the stars. It's a beautiful night." 

"yes it is." Aphrodite said and swam away. Amada watched her go, her beautiful red fish tail propelling her through the water. Oh, would Amada ever get one? Would she grow up to be a mernorn after all, even though she couldn't breathe? She had no family, how did Amada know she hadn't been a land norn that had fallen into the ocean as a baby? 

Amada, lost in sorrow as she was did not see the rays of sunlight creeping up from behind the volcano. 

***

Toby was awake earlier than the other norns. He was a morning person usually anyway. The drought had gotten worse and hardly any food grew anymore. Being a young, strong adolescent male he felt it was his job to help care for the hungry norns. He decided to try his hand at fishing this morning. Toby rode this lift up to the tree house platform and sat down by the fishing rod.As he glanced out over the ocean he was amazed at what he saw. There was a norn! She was covered in blue fur, and her white hair was strangely long. From what little he could see of her face it looked to hold a great sadness. What was she doing out in the ocean? He was about to call to her, when she suddenly dove underwater. What was this? Was she trying to drown herself? He cast out his reel, hoping to hook her and save her from the water, but she was gone.

Chapter Three

Amada was the only one that slept in the airlock. The others, happy to be able to breathe slept outside, but Amada had insisted that she liked her clamshell bed and she had never and did not intend to sleep anywhere else. It would have been nice to sleep out in the open ocean, but then again it would also be nice just to be able to breathe the water. 

The next night Aphrodite declared to be a night of fun and games for the new adolescents. They would play water games and just be given time to swim around. Amada didn't know what to do. Should she pretend to be sick and stay inside the airlock? She certainly couldn't leave it, she'd drown and then they'd know she had lied about breathing, if she was lucky enough not to die. 

Luckily the games were to take place near the surface, so Amada decided to go. They played the game they had been playing the night before, and a few other games that involved going to the surface. When they stopped those games Amada said she did not want to play, she wanted to explore the ocean. And so she did. They had been playing near the volcano, so she decided to swim around the other way.All she wanted to do was get away from the others. She now had a very large lung capacity and could stay underwater for a long time, so as she swam away it looked like she didn't need to surface. 

Why? Was the question that always ran through her mind. Why was she different? What was wrong with her? That day while she slept she had hoped that she was just a late bloomer, but as she had not grown amphibious yet, she figured she must be a freak. A freak, or maybe she just wasn't a mernorn. Maybe she had fallen off the cliff edge or something. Maybe she had a family on land that missed her, and she should try to get back to them. 

Amada didn't know. All she knew was that the light blue ocean had been her home for as long as she could remember, and the older norns remember her being hatched there in the airlock incubator.Who knew? Amada just wanted to get away. 

Out alone in the big ocean Amada felt better. The starlight and the open water was all she needed. She dove, then surfaced, then dove again. Ahead of her she saw a tall tree house, with a nice platform, and on that platform was…a norn! A land norn! Quickly she dove before it could see her, but too late.

***

Toby knew he'd see that norn again. And there she was. This time she saw him, but did the opposite reaction than he expected. She dove. She was trying to hide from him. She seemed to live in the ocean, but how could a norn live there? It didn't make sense.There weren't creatures like mernorns were they? Those were only imaginary. 

Still, Toby cast the fishing line out into the ocean, hoping she would surface again. She seemed to need air. Sure enough she did rise to the surface again, but considerably farther away. She glanced back at him and he turned his head and acted as if he hadn't seen her. Then he cast the fishing line out far and the hook caught her. 

"Yes. Come on in." Toby smiled to himself, reeling the line in.

***

Amada shrieked in pain as the hook caught her hair. What was this? She turned and saw the land norn on the platform holding some kind of stick that had a line connected to it, the line that held the hook that had caught her. He had seen her! He was trying to capture her! She struggled to break free, but the more she fought the more the hook hurt her. She tried to untangle it from her hair and drops of blood fell. It had caught her shoulder too. She felt herself being pulled towards the norn and the land he was on. Closer and closer the tree house loomed. She was so close she could see the norns face. He was unlike any norn she had ever seen. He had dark fur and horns on his head, a really big ears. His eyes were a bluish color. 

Now she had been dragged into she shallows. The norn took the lift down to the beach, continuing to reel her in. 

"Let me go!" She screamed at him. He said noting, but walked towards her and got to work untangling the hook from her hair. She stuck at him. "Don't touch me!"

"I'm only trying to help get this out." He said.

"Why would you want it out, you're the one who put it in there!" she said angrily, slapping him again. 

"There." He said removing the hook. "Its out." But he wouldn't let her go. He forced her to sit down though she fought him, he was a male and much stronger than she. 

"What do you want?" She demanded angrily.

"What are you?" He asked. "Why were you in the water? I saw you yesterday morning and you looked so sad. I thought you were trapped in the water or something, but then I saw that you lived in the water. What are you, that can live in water?"

"Nothing of your concern, land norn. Now let me go!"

"Answer me first."

"What, are you so all important that you think you have the right to capture and innocent norn, and that you must know everything?"

"Just curious I guess. Aren't you curious about 'land norns?'"

"No it's none of my business, and we're none of your business, so leave us alone!"

"There are more norns who live in the water? Your not just a different norn, there are others like you?" He asked.His choice of words startled her. Different norn. Yes, she was different. 

"I'm not letting you go back until you tell me, so you might as well start, before they miss you. Would you get in trouble for associating with a land norn?"This norn was pretty smart. Amada gave one last struggle, but was not match for the strength that held her down. 

"We're mernorns okay? Norns that can live in the ocean! Happy?"

"Wow." He said. "Amazing. There are actually amphibious norns out there, who can live in the water, but wait…I noticed that you had to surface for air. But you're the only one I saw. You said that there are others, but I never saw them surface for air."

"That's because they don't need to." Amada said, caught off guard. This handsome norn had a certain charm to him.

"They don't? You mean they are aquatic! That's impossible! Well, it must be, but how come you have to? Are you different or something?"

Even on land, with strangers, Amada was different. This was too much to bear. All of the strains of the night that had built up seemed to come out, in the form of tears.

"What is it, what's wrong?" He asked, loosing his grip a little bit. Toby recalled the night before when he had seen her, and how sad she had been.

"Yes, yes I am different! I'm the only one who can't breathe water like them!" Amada cried. She didn't care anymore. Though mernorns didn't want their existence know by land norns, she didn't care. She needed to tell someone all of her sadness, and she couldn't tell any of the mernorns. 

Toby didn't know what to say. A few minutes ago he had been holding down a struggling savage, now he was holding a mournful yet beautiful creature. She was beautiful to him. He no longer thought of her as something to study and wander about, he though of this female as a norn. 

"Look, whatever your name is, I'm sorry. I can't help you there, but you don't have to go back. You could just stay here."

"Amada." She sobbed.

"What?"

"My name is Amada. And I have to go back."

"Why? Why should you go back to a place that makes you so sad?" 

"I have to go back. I just have to. I'm sorry. Will you let me go now?"

"Yes, but, I just don't see why."

"Don't worry about it. You are a land norn and I am a mernorn. We shouldn't expect to understand each other. I must go. Goodbye…"

"Toby." Toby said.

"Goodbye Toby." 

"Goodbye Amada. I'll wait here tomorrow night if you change your mind." He called as she waded into the shadows. He watched her swim away. She was so beautiful, so very beautiful. Whatever kind of creature she was, she was beautiful, and Toby hated to see her in such sadness. He had only just met her, but there was something about her…he wished there was something else he could do for her.

Chapter Four

The past few days had gotten worse by the day for Amada, and this was no exception. She awoke and ate her cheese, making it last as long as she could so that she wouldn't have to leave the airlock. Conrad wasn't looking very well as he ordered the young norns around in his usual way. His ears were drooping and his eyes were watery. 

Suddenly he sank to the floor unconscious. Amada recognized the stars around his head. He had grown a tail! Quickly Amada ran to the shelf and got the first aide kit out. She had recalled Conrad doing this to young norns in the past, so she knew what to do. She gave him one injection of Debrifilent to wake him up and several of liquid food. Then she opened the airlock and dumped him out. 

"Wow! I've got a tail!" He said. "I guess I am no longer lord of the airlock. Thank you for saving me Amada. You knew exactly what to do, maybe you should be the next airlock head."

"Me?" Amada said. She wasn't really great with young children and didn't really relish the prospect of caring for little norns, but Conrad spent most of his time in the airlock, so if she took his place she wouldn't have to leave it. She could live safely under the water and not have to go back to land with Toby… 

"Okay, I'll do that." She said. 

"Oh, but…" Chastity had heard the conversation and had come down. Amada sank her head. She had forgotten that Chastity had always wanted to do this. 

"Why can't we both do it?" Amada said. "We both really want to do it, there's no reason why we can't share the job."

"I guess that's a good point." Said Conrad. "Okay, both of you can be the heads, and the other adolescents will help you." 

So the rest of the early part of the night Amada and Chastity learned the things they were required to know.From outside Conrad pointed out things and explained things. Soon both mernorns knew what everything in the first aide kit was for and how to best care for baby norns. Since they had been raised in the airlock themselves, they already knew most things. 

The night would have been her first good night (if you call putting up with whining babies and feeding and pampering them good, which some would but Amada did not) if it weren't for the visitor that came later that night. 

"Eat Enva, eat." Amada said to a stubborn baby mernorn. As she spoke she looked up and saw Aphrodite and Conrad talking to a strange mernorn.He was kind of a greenish color and had a green tail. It was the loner mernorn Coren! She knew from descriptions of him. It was her father! 

Quickly she rushed over to Chastity. "The pantry is out of fish." She said quickly. "I'm going to get some more." She took a deep breath and rushed out of the airlock. She felt like calling out, "Father!" but decided to swim closer so that he could hear her. As she swam she heard her name. 

"…Amada you're her father…" Aphrodite said.

"I tell you, that norn is not my child." Coren replied. Amada felt her heart sink in her chest. She needed air, so she swam to the surface. They hadn't seen her yet, but she wanted to hear what they were saying, so she swam to a rocky ledge above them, yet near the surface too and listened.

"I had heard of Irene, but I had never met her." Coren went on. 

"So then if you aren't Amada's father, than who is?" 

"I do not know. All I know is that it wasn't me.I never even met her! Perhaps Irene had been to land and amada's father is a land norn.""Irene, visit land?" Aphrodite was shocked.Amada surfaced for air, her ears hearing but not believing. She went under again.

"she has blue fur and whitehair hust like her mother. Irene's hair was never as long as Amada's is, and Amada's is still growing." Conrad commented. 

"There is no doubt that Irene is Amada's mother, but who then is her father? What would we do with her if she was half land norn?" Aphrodite was worried.

"Didn't you say the child can't breathe water, even though she is an adolescent?" Coren said. Amada had to surface again, this time she was really shocked. They knew she couldn't breathe the water. If they knew, then why were they acting like they didn't?

"…Doesn't mean she's not a mernorn. She could just be a late bloomer. Though, I guess if she's like that, then she probably is only half mernorn."

"What are we to do with her then?" Aphrodite said. "Such a sweet young norn…"

Amada had heard enough. She swam away from the ledge, her face stained with tears, and out into the open water. Away from the airlock, away from everything. She could live on land, with Toby. She didn't need to live in the ocean that she loved, the ocean she had grown up in. If she wasn't a full mernorn, there wasn't much sense living there. She would just be different all of her life there, working in the Airlock until she was old and gray.

She reached the beach underneath the platform and stumbled onto it. She turned back towards the ocean and called into the waves; 

"Goodbye my home. Goodbye Chastity, and Leroy and Conrad and Aphrodite! Goodbye Airlock! I wont ever see you again!" She turned to face the land ahead of her. It was bleak and desolate, with spiny green plants here and there. Where did Toby live? Did he live in this wasteland? She didn't see him. 

"Toby!" She called. "Toby!" There was no answer."Anybody!" She called. Where were the land norns? Where was Toby? He said he'd be back again now! 

"Toby!" She cried. "To-o-by." She tripped, and fell. She lay there; her face sunk into the sand and did not get up. What was the point of getting up? 

It began to rain that night, soft, gentle rain. Amada felt it hit her back and splatter all over her, but she did not get up.

***

Toby had fallen asleep on the platform. After spending the last two nights up late, he was too tired for another night. He awoke to rays of sun hitting his face. How long had he been asleep? The others would be worried about him, and at the moment they didn't need anything else to worry about. And what if Amada had come? He doubted it, she had been pretty straightforward in that she wouldn't, but he never knew. He wanted to see her again so bad, that he would come out every night to try and find her. 

Toby gathered up his things and rode the lift down to the beach. Suddenly he saw a blue norn with long white hair lying in the land. She was not moving. Amada! Toby slapped himself inwardly for being so lazy as to sleep. She must have needed him, and now she might die! He dropped his fishing stuff and scooped the unconscious norn up. Then he rode the lift down to his home, hoping he wasn't too late.

Chapter Five

Amada awoke in a strange room. It was warm and dry in this room, and Amada felt quite safe. Nearby she saw a pool of water with a few goldfish swimming around, and a learning computer was playing out words for a little norn. 

"She's awake!" A familiar voice said. Amada turned and saw Toby sitting beside her. 

"Toby." She struggled to speak. "Toby, why didn't you come…" 

"I'm sorry." He said. "I didn't know. Here, eat this." He handed her a round, red fruit. Amada ate it. It was delicious. 

"That's good. What is that?" 

"A Tomato. It's very good for you."

"Where am I?" She asked.

"This is my home." Toby said. "A Land norn home. You are underneath the desert and the beach." 

Amada sat up. "What happened?"

"I found you in the sand unconscious and brought you here. You'll be all right, you just need to rest. Then you can leave if you want."Amada though about the ocean, about Coren and the conversation she had overheard. 

"No, I don't want to go back. I'm never going back there." She said. 

"That sure is different from what you said last night. " Toby said. "Whatever happened to change your mind?"

"I don't want to talk about it now." Amada said.

"You don't have too. Just rest, and stay as long as you like."

"What about those other norns." Amada said, noticing the other land norns who were watching them yet acting like they weren't. "Do they know, what I am? Do they care if I stay?"

"Yes, they do know, but don't worry, they wont go trying to hurt your mernorn friends. And no, they won't care, not too much anyway. Just know that if you stay you may go hungry, there is a bit of a food shortage here because of the drought."

"What are you talking about, you have plenty of food." Amada said, eyeing the goldfish. 

"Shhhhh. Just rest. You'll feel better soon." Amada closed her eyes again and went to sleep. 

Amada was awakened by Toby shaking her.

"You've got to get up." He said."The others agree that you can stay here with us, but if you do you have to work."

"I'll work." Amada said. "But why are we up now? It's still daylight." 

"Daylight is when you have to be active, silly. Come on, you can help me gather the cactus seed."

"But…" Amada was confused. Land norns were very different. They slept during the night and were active during the day! She followed Toby to the lift and rode it up and into the sunshine. 

"Ah! Bright!" She shielded her eyes from the menacing rays. She could not see, it was too bright. 

"Amada!" Toby said, pulling her arms down from her eyes. Then he laughed. "You've never been out in the day before! Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Just let your eyes adjust." The two made their way to a spot where lots of cactuses grew. 

"The drought has gotten so bad we are forced to eat cactus seeds. They aren't very good, not sustaining either, but they keep us alive, along with the fruit and other foods Ganymede can bring us."

"Who's Ganymede?" Amada asked as she copied the way Toby pulled the seeds from the flower.

"He's sort of the explorer of our tribe. Warafu is the leader, and then there's Amaryllis who sort of looks after us all, she's the one who brought you back to consciousness, there's young ones like us who just do whatever we can. Ganymede is the strongest of our tribe and he goes out on exploring trips, searching for food. You'll like him, he's really nice and fun."

"Ah." Amada said. "You say you have a food shortage, but I saw lots of food back at your home."

"What are you talking about?" Toby asked.

"The goldfish in the pond. Those fish are really good for you, and they don't taste bad either." She looked at him. "You were trying to catch fish before in the ocean, but why, when you had them right there?" 

"I guess we didn't realize they were edible. We though you could only eat the Zandler fish. I tell you what, I'll finish here, you run back home and catch us some goldfish for a meal today. "

"Okay." Amada dropped the seed she was holding and ran back to the lift.Honestly. Toby was a nice norn, a hansome norn, a sensible norn, but he didn't know when food was right in front of him. There were enough fish there for many meals!

"What are you doing child?" An elderly female asked. This was amaryllis. "Did Toby not tell you that if you were going to stay here you had to work?"

"Yes he did, I'm working. I'm getting you food for today." Amada stepped into the pond. 

"Ameryls, what's she doing?" The baby norn Kipa asked.

Amada caught the fish easily, having been catching fish since she was a baby. Soon ten fish were being cooked on a fire, enough for each of the norns to get one. 

"This is delicious." Toby said to Amada. Amada smiled. "Goldfish was always my favorite."

"Many thanks to you Amada, for showing us what were right under our noses. With this we can last until the rains come again." Warafu said.

"But it rained last night." Amada said. 

"Yes, but that wasn't anything. The real rains will come in the summer, and then our food will grow again."

"Well I do smell something yummy!" A voice said. The lift was being lowered down and an elderly norn with a cheerful smile came down. He had purple fur, except for a long white beard and pale green eyes, exactly like Amada's. His eyes turned to Amada and he gasped.

"Irene!" He exclaimed. Amada knew who this norn was.

"Father!"

Chapter Six

"Oh my, oh my." Ganymede exclaimed. He had traveled far to come home to his tribe of norns that night, but he had not expected to see the little blue female sitting around the fire with the others. He had only seen one other norn in his life like her.

Irene. The beautiful blue norn named Irene had been the love of hislife. She was beautiful beyond anything he could have imagined, and she had been so kind too. He recalled happily the starlit nights they had spent together.

When he had found out Irene was pregnant he hadn't known what to think, only that he was very happy. But one day he found her unconscious, and she had grown a tail! He used his medical knowledge to revive her, but she said she was suffocating and needed water, so he led her to the ocean. There she and the unborn child swam away, never to return. 

Yet here was the child! Here she was, looking just as young and beautiful as her mother had been.

"Oh my." He said. "It really is the little one! Oh dear, come here, come let your daddy look at you!"

Amada threw her caution to the winds and ran into the arms of this norn. This truly was her father. "Father, I'm glad I found you."

"Dear child, tell me, what happened after your mother left, after she swam into the ocean? Where is she?"

At this point Amaryllis interrupted. "Ganymede, you never told us you had a daughter." 

"A norn as old as I am has many secrets, and I had lost all hope of finding her again. Tell me, how did you get here? Where is your mother?"

Amada fell back from his embrace. "Mother is dead." She said. "I think we need to talk." She looked at the other norns. She smiled at Toby as their eyes met, then turned back to her father. 

"Yes, we do. Let's go to the basement." Amada had hardly any time to wonder about the basement as she rode the lift down into it. 

"Child, I may seem like a horrible parent to not know this, but I never saw you until just now. Tell me your name."

"Amada." Amada said.

"Such a beautiful name. I bet your mother named you. She got that name from a sister of mine, one of her good friends. Amada died young, but was a kind a wonderful norn." He paused. Amada took advantage of that.

"Father, why? I was born in the ocean, in a sea of mernorns. My mother had died before I saw her, and it wasn't really known who my father was.I didn't know I was half mernorn until all the others became able to breathe underwater, but I couldn't. Then I found out that the mernorn that everyone thought was my father wasn't, and that I wasn't a true mernorn, so I swam to land where I had met Toby, and he saved me, and then I found you. Why weren't you there for me?"

"Amada, I wanted to be there for you, so badly I did. I loved your mother more than I've ever loved anyone. She just showed up one day, and I fell in love with her, and we had you. But before you were born she transformed into a mernorn and left land forever. I had no idea that she was a mernorn, so I didn't know you'd have to leave. Believe me, I wanted you. I tried so hard to get both of you back, but I couldn't. I'm sorry you had to go through all that."

Amada felt sorry for her father. She could understand how he had felt, losing his love. She could imagine feeling the same way if she ever had to leave Toby. 

Toby? Where did that come from? Since when did she love him? But she knew the answer. Since she had met him, he was such a kind and handsome norn. She had loved him all along, she just hadn't told herself.

"I never got to meet mother." Amada said. "From what you say she must have been a really wonderful norn, but she died shortly after I was born. I'm sorry." Both father and daughter were silent, each deep in thought. 

"Well, I hear that fish you caught is pretty good, and a traveler like me sure can get hungry." Ganymede finally said. "Shall we go back up?"

"Sure." Amada said. They rode up the lift together and into the incubator room. The others had finished and were going about their chores again.

"Amada, Toby went up to the tree house. Why don't you go up there and tell him to do some cleaning while he's there." Amaryllis said. 

Amada obeyed. She ascended the lift and saw him sitting and staring out into the ocean.

"Toby." She said. He jumped, and turned to see her. "Amaryllis wants you to clean the tree house, since you're here." She said.

"Okay." He got up and began to move things around. "she would ask me to do it wouldn't she, its so messy up here no one else would dare try it."

"I'll help." Amada said.She helped him shift things around, and they passed a quiet Evening together, trying to sort out the mess but eventually becoming so tired and sick of it all that they eventually just slumped to the floor and gave up.

"There's no point." Toby said. "Half of this stuff we never even knew we had up here, so its of no importance."Amada agreed, though she wasnot as tired as Toby was. She was still used to sleeping during the day and being active at night as apposed to the way she was living now. She got up and stared out of the window at the stars and the ocean below. It was amazing to see how far she had come in only a short time.

After a time Toby got up and sat beside her. He knew what she was thinking about. He didn't know what life down there had been like, but he could guess that even though being different had caused her a lot of pain she still missed her old home.Toby was sorry she had been forced to go through all of that, but he was glad that she was here now. He put his arm around her and they both stared out into the ocean wordlessly. 

Chapter Seven

It was a windy, humid, overcast day in late spring several years later. A norn covered in blue fur, with long white hair tied behind her head in a ponytail was strolling along the sand. If one looked closely one could see a noticeable hump on her belly. 

It would soon rain, this was evident. This rain would be the end of the drought that had destroyed the crops of Amada's tribe. Year after year this would happen, a drought would start in which food would be tight before the summer rains ended it. Amada was used to it now.

She looked out at the light blue ocean, her old home. She had missed the place terribly when she had first come to land, and still felt a yearning to be with the friends she had grown up with and the life she had grown up in, but she was happy now. The land was her home. She had found her father here, her love here, and was happy here. She put her hand on her stomach. There were other reasons for her to stay there as well.

Toby came down from the tree house that was now their home. "How's my girl?" He asked, kissing her on the cheek. He put his hand on her stomach. "And how is this one?"

"I'm fine, and this one is too. Perhaps it will be coming soon." Amada hadn't taken her eyes off the ocean. They now moved slowly upward and stopped on the volcano. There was smoke coming from it!

"Look at the volcano!" She said.

"Oh, it's nothing. It smokes like that sometimes. I doubt it will erupt, it hasn't for thousands of years and is probably dormant."

There was a deep rumble. Amada clung to Toby so that she wouldn't fall."What was that?"

"I don't know." He said. "Maybe it was the thunder and the rain will come pouring down any minute now." Just as he said this there was a loud clap of thunder, and the rain did come pouring down."See, what did I tell you. Come on, let's go up to shelter." They rode the lift up into the tree house. The storm raged outside as the two sat by the fire.

***

Several days later, Amada gave birth to her son, who she named Conrad.He was covered in blue fur like Amada, but without her long white hair. Instead his hair was brown and short, like his father Toby. 

* **

A few days later, Amada brought Conrad to the tree house platform. She had turned away from him for a minute and listened to Toby telling her something, and didn't see him crawl to the end of the platform. 

Suddenly, there was another rumble and the ground shook. Conrad lost his balance and fell off of the platform and into the ocean. Amada heard the splash and screamed.

"What!" Toby rushed to see what was the matter. But Amada knew what she had to do. She would have to go back to her old home and save her son. She took a deep breath and dove.

"Amada!" Toby called. What was she doing? She wasn't leaving him as her mother had left Amada's father was she? Where was Conrad? 

Amada surfaced. He called to her. "Conrad fell during the ground shake!" She exclaimed. I have to find him!" Toby nodded. He only hoped she would find their son, and that the trip back to her old home wasn't too emotional. 

Amada dove under and scanned the water with her mernorn eyes. But the water seemed murkier than before, she couldn't even see all the way to the bottom! Had being on land worn away at her water vision? There, she caught a glimpse of a baby norn sinking. She surfaced, took a deep breath and dove deep. 

"Conrad!" She called. Her voice awoke the mernorn Conrad, who had been sleeping. 

"Amada!" He called. He was amazed to see this blue norn that had disappeared so long ago. Her hair was twice as long, and she looked to be a youth now or older, and yet she had no tail. She must have been indeed only half mernorn. Had she spent all of this time on land? 

"My son!" She called. "Have you seen a baby norn? I must find him!" Her voice was frantic.

"No!" Conrad said. "I'll look." He began to search the ocean floor. Amada surfaced for air and dove again. She swam as fast as she could toward the bottom. 

Another earth shake ripped through the water, causing Amada to be swept sideways into a corner of stone. Rubble from above sank and Amada found herself trapped. 

"Conrad help!" She cried. She had to get out! She had to save her son, who would have passed out by now! She had to get out before Toby became worried about her and dove in after her and got himself hurt or drowned.She had to get out and get air for herself. She kicked and thrashed at the stones, hoping they would move, but even underwater they were heavy. She needed air! She had to get to the surface! She had to save her son! Her lungs were exploding. Panic filled her. She could not get out. She would drown, and this time there was no puffer fish to help her. Her mouth burst open and took a breath of, of air! She felt a strange sensation in her mouth as it filtered the oxygen out of the water. She took deep gulping breaths. With renewed strength she forced one of the stones to move and swam out.

Amada was shocked and surprised that she had finally been able to breathe. She was really a mernorn! She could go back to her old friends and her old life! She was a mernorn!

But now, after so long, she didn't want to go back to them. She had a nice life on land, with her father, her husband and her son.If she could save him!

Down she swam, all the way to the bottom. She stopped to look into the airlock, saw the young norns sleeping there. She recognized the baby norns that were now children and adolescents. None of the ones her age remained, they had all gone to the other ocean where the grown mernorns lived. 

She forced herself away from the airlock and scanned the ocean floor for little Conrad. There he was! She scooped the baby norn up, and kicked her feet, but was shocked. They had grown scaly, not like legs at all. They became hard to draw apart. She was getting a Tail! Oh no! A while ago that would have been good, but now it was bad. Now she couldn't go back to land, now she would have to leave her family and live in the water.

But why did it happen so suddenly? Why hadn't it happened at the normal time, and why when only when she had reentered the water? She broke the surface and took a deep breath of air. Yes, she could breathe the air still. Toby was in the shallows, about to go in after her. She handed Conrad to Toby. "Quickly, wake him up!" She said. 

She glanced at her legs, still legs, but for how long? She dragged herself to land and prayed that they wouldn't change any more now that she was out of water. She struggled to stand on them and found she could. She walked to the lift and rode it up.

"What happened?" He looked at her legs in shock.

"No time, you've got to get Conrad awake while there's still hope!" She said. Toby gave the babe a shot of defibrilant and liquid food. 

"He lived for a long time under the water, thank goodness." Toby said. 

"That's because he has mernorn in him." Amada smiled. Her legs were turning from scales back into fur, and she was grateful. She looked at her son. A normal norn would have died after being under for so long. But her little boy had survived at a young age as she had never done.She predicted that Conrad would go far in his life. 

He had done something for her too. His falling into the water had given her a second chance at being a mernorn. He had given her a final time in the ocean of her home. If it weren't for him she would never have finally breathed the water. He also helped her realize where she belonged. She belonged here, with her two men to guard her and the happiness of family that she had never had in the ocean.

"Thank you." She whispered.


End file.
